It has become very common to use adhesive tape tabs on disposable diapers. However, as there is often a need for reuse of a disposable diaper that has not been soiled, there has been a need for a refastenable tape system. The conventional tape system would tear the poly backing material of a diaper when removed from the front. Therefore, they could only be refastened by use of additional tape that was awkward and inconvenient to the user.
There have been proposed and commercialized refastenable tape systems in which a piece of tape is transferred to the front of a diaper and serves as a target area for refastening of the diaper. Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,149, Ness et al. and in U.K. Pat. No. 2,091,986 assigned to Unicharm. However, such tape systems while providing reliable refastenability have disadvantages. These disadvantages include the possibility for the consumer to misuse the tape structure such that the piece of tape to be transferred to the front is thrown away. Further, it is possible that the adherence of the main tape for the refastenable holding tape will be so great that the tape will be torn from the front of the diaper. Other disadvantages are that the target tape (transferred to the diaper front) may become contaminated with a material such as the creams used in treating diaper rash or the person fastening the diaper may miss the target tape when refastening the diaper.
U.K. publication No. GB 2,114,449 to Korpman discloses a disposable diaper provided with a pressure-sensitive adhesive that permits reopening of the diaper numerous times without substantial damage to the polyethylene backing sheet or the adhesive closure. This system is believed to have the disadvantage that the U.K. British Pat. No. 1,597,799 assigned to Johnson & Johnson also discloses a single-tape refastenable diaper. In the 799 patent the diaper is claimed to have a tape that has a "quick stick" of about 7 oz. per inch, and peel adhesion of substantially no more than 8.3 oz. per inch. This system is believed to provide an inadequate fastening adhesion and, therefore, would be unreliable in that some diapers will come open during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,249 to Bildusas discloses adhesive suitable for forming contact bonds that are resealable to polyethylene surfaces at room temperature. The adhesive composition disclosed therein is set forth as suitable for releasable and resealable sealing strips for storage or sandwich bag products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,147 to Byrne et al. discloses a plastic film having a matte finish. The film was disclosed as particularly suitable for use with disposable diapers.